A weekly roundup of good deeds, missteps, heroic feats and epic failures in the tri-state region and beyond.
WINNERS
U.S. Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx — After he challenged America’s mayors in January to improve pedestrian and bicyclist safety, Secretary Foxx this week unveiled a 30-year vision for the nation’s transportation policy “that promises to nudge the country off its 20th-century, highway-first course.”
NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio — Mayor de Blasio said in his State of the City address Tuesday that the City has committed $295 million for 13 new Select Bus Service routes, and that his affordable housing plan will focus development in transit-accessible neighborhoods.
New Jersey Assemblymembers Wisniewski, DeAngelo and Benson — The trio of Garden State lawmakers sponsored a recently-passed bill which allows counties and municipalities to implement traffic calming measures in local business districts without NJDOT approval.
Manhattan CB 12 & Hudson Heights safety advocates — Thanks to support from Community Board 12’s Transportation Committee and the efforts of local advocates, the Hudson Heights neighborhood in northern Manhattan will be designated a Neighborhood Slow Zone.
Stamford pedestrians and bicyclists — The city’s Board of Representatives unanimously approved a Complete Streets ordinance in January, making Stamford the third Connecticut municipality to formally embrace Complete Streets.
LOSERS
President Obama — Instead of raising the federal gas tax, which hasn’t been increased since 1993, the President’s budget calls for a repatriation plan to help fund the nation’s $478 billion in transportation infrastructure needs.
MTA 7 Train riders — Thanks to an umbrella (an umbrella?!) that landed on the third rail and caught fire, Manhattan-bound 7 trains lost power, stranding commuters for two hours on crowded trains without heat Monday morning.
Pedestrians across the northern United States — Unshoveled sidewalks — and the failure of some municipalities to enforce sidewalk snow clearance laws — have made walking unnecessarily perilous in the region and beyond.
Amtrak — Mayor de Blasio said Sunnyside Yards in Queens would play a big part in his housing plan Tuesday, but Governor Cuomo said the Yards aren’t available for that purpose. Neither party seemed to realize, however, that the majority of Sunnyside Yards is actually owned by Amtrak.
The Stamford Board of Reps can embrace anything they want, but they won’t succeed until we solve two problems:
1. My fellow pedestrians need to stop jay walking. Stamford residents have a bad habit of cutting across the street anywhere they want. Perhaps the downtown blocks are too long, but they cause as many problems as drivers.
2. The timing on traffic lights has not been adjusted in almost 20 years. Lights at alternate blocks will be green then red then green. Cars race thru the yellow (and sometimes red) lights so they don’t get stuck at each block. The city needs to have a proper timing system along with pressure plates at intersections to balance north/south and east/west traffic.
If snow clearance on sidewalks should be the responsibility of the property owner, so should snow clearance on the street. Why should the town or city have to pay for snow clearance when the property owner should be perfectly capable of doing it? In addition the town or city can escape liability for any snow clearance that is improperly done.
I was also disappointed in the failure to move on the gas tax. Despite claims to the contrary, the gas tax is still viable. The increases in average vehicle mileage over the last decade was less than in the 1970s, and with adjustments the gas tax survived the 1970s just fine.
http://pedestrianadvocate.blogspot.com/2014/09/gas-taxes-and-mpg.html
How is Amtrak a loser just because De Blaz is such a big mouthed bumbler? Cuomo is right for the moment at least – the yards are busy – with construction of LIRR’s Grand Central connection. Might the space above the yard someday be available? Maybe someone ought to talk to Amtrak!
The age of the author of Winners and Losers is showing. Overbuilds in Sunnyside Yards have been talked about for a long time. While the cost of building decks to put housing on might limit the affordability of the product, there is no reason it can’t be done. See also Hudson Yards in Manhattan.
Supporters of a new transportation authorization act should not look a gift horse in the mouth. Give the President some credit for actually proposing a serious funding source for his transportation bill this time. A funding source that even some Republicans support and makes some economic sense, too.
The gas tax is amazingly unpopular with the voting public. Look at all of the polling data. A large majority of American commuters have no realistic public transportation option. Yes, with gas prices at very low levels a gas tax might be the logical solution but logic and politics rarely match up.
Lots of reputable groups are proposing we look at other means of funding transit, highways and bike infrastructure. MTR should not be so dismissive at the beginning of the discussion.
[…] the same day of Obama’s budget release, Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx discussed the administration’s 30-year transportation plan—promisingly titled “Beyond Traffic […]